Nest counts from the largest subpopulation of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) in the Atlantic, peninsular Florida, have been declining since 1998. Analyzing trends of nests and adult females is insufficient to determine the overall status of a sea turtle population, due to variation in nesting frequency and a...
Marine systems undergo changes in community composition over time as a result of a variety of environmental and anthropogenic factors. Understanding these community changes and the factors that drive them is critical for ecosystem management of marine resources. The Gulf of Alaska (GOA) is a large marine ecosystem that includes...
Somatic growth variation manifests from the cumulative effects of a suite of biological, ecological, and environmental processes and can have profound effects on individual fitness and species population dynamics. As ectotherms whose growth dynamics are greatly influenced by environmental factors, sea turtles display considerable variation in somatic growth within and...
The nearshore waters off the Oregon coast (< 73 meters) are a region of high productivity and economic value, with a variety of habitats that include rock outcrops. Temperate reef habitats are important to many commercially important fishes inhabiting the Pacific coast, including canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger) and yelloweye rockfish...
The relationship between population characteristics and population productivity is fundamental to sustainable fisheries management, but predicting productivity remains a challenging task. Proposed mechanisms driving the variability in productivity at a given population size have included environmental and demographic factors related to the age structure of the population, but the broad-scale...
Bycatch, or the incidental capture of non-target species, has been implicated as one of the main factors leading to population declines of many large marine vertebrates, including sea turtles. To effectively manage and conserve these long-lived species, their marine distribution, high use areas, foraging habitats, and regions of highest likelihood...
Management strategies to prevent overfishing while achieving optimum yield vary according to the available data and life history of the fished stock. I evaluated two sets of management strategies for Pacific coast rockfish: strategies to set harvest limits for data-poor stocks, and strategies intended to protect the age structure of...
Sea turtles are endangered species that can be censused with aerial surveys, but the number of turtles in an area must be extrapolated to include animals that are submerged. Twenty-one satellite tags were attached to juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in North Carolina. I analyzed surfacing and dive behavior...
Green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, have endangered and threatened populations globally, but several populations show signs of population recovery. In Hawaii, nesting female green turtles have increased 5.7% year⁻¹ since 1973, but wide fluctuations in census counts of nesting females make recovery diagnosis difficult. For effective management planning, it is...
Remote areas are frequently homes to regional subpopulations of endangered green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and their essential habitat. Local communities are often the users and primary stewards of this valuable and charismatic resource. Recognizing this, a Hatohobeian community group in Palau has engaged in longterm monitoring and conservation management...